In this Fish Tank Kings video, Francis helps out Tennessee Aquarium curator Thom Demas with an Giant Octopus Emergency. A giant pacific octopus was extremely unhappy in it’s exhibit, and had to be moved to a small holding tank. After close inspection, the rock in the octopus exhibit was almost “sponge-like.” A sample of the rock was sent to the lab and PBA was found in the epoxy used, and later on in the water. The toxic chemical, commonly found in hard plastics and some water bottles, used in the epoxy of the artificial rock, can have extremely harmful effects if it leeches out.

In this case, the endocrine system of the Giant Octopus was poisoned by the PBA in the exhibit. Fish Tank Kings decided to build a new Pacific Northwest exhibit with no epoxy-based rock. Look out for future updates from National Geographic where we will show you the results.